This invention relates to a method and apparatus for collecting tolls utilized for toll roads and toll parking lots.
One example of a prior art toll collecting system will firstly be described with reference to FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings.
The toll collecting system shown in FIG. 1 is installed at an interchange of a toll road, for example, provided with four gates, that is two entry gates 11 and 12 and two exit gates 51 and 52. More particularly, this system is utilized for four vehicle lanes, that is two entry lanes and two exit lanes corresponding to respective gates. The outline of this system will be described as follows.
Respective booths of the entry gates 11 and 12 are provided with ticket vendors 21 and 22 and traffic light controllers, not shown. When the lanes are open, traffic lights 31 and 32 are changed from red to green under the control of the traffic light controllers to permit entrance of vehicles, not shown. Then when vehicles enter the gates as shown by arrows Fl and F2, vehicle detectors 41 and 42 installed at the entry gates detect that the vehicles enter the gates and the class of the vehicles (a large car, a medium car and a small car, a motor bike, etc.). The ticket vendors 21 and 22 issue tickets after writing detected vehicle class information and other necessary items on predetermined portions of the tickets as shown in FIG. 2. The tickets thus issued are handed over to drivers through clerks in charge or automatic machines.
The ticket T shown in FIG. 2 takes the form of a magnetic card, and the vehicle class information and other necessary informations (date, interchange number or the like) are magnetically recorded on a hatched zone a of the ticket. At the same time, the recorded information is printed on a space above the zone a so that the drivers and clerks in charge can visually confirm the contents of the recorded informations.
Exit units 61 and 62 and traffic light controllers (not shown) are installed in each booth of the exit gates 51 and 52 so that when given vehicle lanes are open, traffic lights 33 and 34 are changed from red to green under the control of the traffic light controllers to permit the vehicles to exit. Then, when the vehicles exit from the exit gates 51 and 52 as shown by arrows F3 and F4, the clerks in charge in the booths collect tickets from the drivers of the vehicles and insert the collected tickets into exit units 61 and 62 and ticket readers, not shown. When inserted with the tickets, the exit units 61 and 62 read out the contents stored in the tickets to confirm whether the contents are normal or not. When the contents are normal, the exit units calculate the tolls according to the read out contents and display the calculated tolls on toll displayers 71 and 72. Then the clerks in charge collect the displayed tolls from the drivers. As shown, vehicle detectors 43 and 44 are installed at the exit gates 51 and 52, respectively, which generate exit vehicle detection information and vehicle class information. Various comparisons of the information at the entry gate and the exit gate and the information regarding vehicle classes are made. More particularly, a comparison is made between the information of the ticket T read by the exit units and vehicle class information according to which tolls have been actually collected.
Usually, in a toll road, the number of vehicles passing through the entry gate and the exit gate of an interchange is not always constant In many cases, the number of vehicles passing through the entry gate and the exit gate varies greatly depending upon time zones, districts, etc. In the entry and exit gates of toll vehicle parking lots the same phenomenon occurs.
Accordingly, in the toll collecting system described above, the number of vehicles passing though the entry and exit gates is not always constant so that in one situation two booths and lanes are necessary for the entry and exit gates, while in another situation, adequate administration and processing can be made for only one booth and one lane. Since the prior art toll collecting system was constructed to change the number of gates and lanes when the number of vehicles passing through the gate varies, it is necessary to prepare a number of gates and lanes commensurate with the peak number of vehicles which become surplus during off-peak time.